


Seawards

by misura



Category: The White Queen (TV)
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene, Morning Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 10:27:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11895783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: She woke before he did, to the sounds of an army still at rest and the river, murmuring in the distance.





	Seawards

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blueteak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueteak/gifts).



She woke before he did, to the sounds of an army still at rest and the river, murmuring in the distance.

Were she to go outside now, none would stop her - and none would doubt what she had come here to do, what she had done. It would not stop Henry Tudor from marrying her, were he to win a victory on the field here today, yet even as he did, he would do so knowing that she did not come to his bed an untouched maid, ignorant and obedient.

It would make his victory over her a hollow and empty thing, stripped of its heart.

It would make her Queen, and leave him King, still, occupying a throne for which he had caused her brother to be murdered.

Richard stirred, and she wondered if she had made a sound, or if he had sensed her, nearby and thinking of things that might very well never come to pass.

"Elizabeth?"

"You must win," she said, staring at the tent flap that hid the outside world. "You must."

"If I lose, I shall die," he said. "Trust me when I say that knowing this provides me with a certain amount of motivation."

"You are King." Father had been King, when he had died.

"And you will be Queen. I have promised you, have I not? And I always keep my word."

 _The river promised me. Mother promised me._ The river might bring rain, or floods, but it would not bring more men to swell his ranks, or sway Lord Stanley to his side.

"I will be very cross with you if you do not," she said, smiling as she turned to look at him. She wanted him, as a woman might starve for a man, or a queen might permit herself to desire her king.

His gaze, as he met hers, betrayed a want that equalled her own, even though he held still, letting her be the one to come to him. Another time, she promised herself, she would match strengths with him in this game, pretend a lack of interest only to see him burn for her.

In this place, at this moment, time was too precious a coin to pay for pride. It was enough to know that he longed for her as she did for him, to feel his body stir under hers as she sat herself astride on it, the way a man might seat himself on a horse.

He had held her under him, last night, his movements made sure by experience she yet lacked.

"I would not wish for you to be cross with me," he said, staring up at her. There was a hint of doubt in his voice, as if there was a question he wished to ask, but did not know how to phrase.

"There is time," she said. "It is early, still, and quiet."

His smile held a wry edge. "I have heard it said that for a man to lie with a woman on the eve of battle saps his strength, weakening him, but also that it fires his blood, causing him to fight the better for it. Which of the two do you think is true?"

"It matters not. You are not a man, as I am not a woman. You are King, and I am the one who shall be Queen, and I mean to have you."

All of him was awake now, ready. Waiting. "Then take me, if that is what you wish," he said, and she did, slowly, taking the time to let her body adjust to the intrusion, to taking him inside of her, to make it as it had been between them the night before, his presence a sweet ache that built and built until it crested and he spilled his seed inside of her.

If he won the victory he had promised her, and married her quickly, she might bear him a son who would grow to be king, or a daughter, who might be queen.

If he broke his promise, she might go to Henry Tudor's wedding bed already carrying the boy who would one day take his throne and his life.

"You should go now," Richard said. "I will send for you, when I have won."

Time had passed, unheeded. The sounds outside had changed to that of an army stirring, beginning to prepare itself for battle, and the river, sweetly calling her home.

"Yes," she said, leaning down to kiss him, to take it with her as she left, both as a memory and a promise.


End file.
